WFAN host says the Mets payroll is going to waste on a mediocre roster without power

Brandon Tierney is the more radical half of the WFAN midday show with co-host Tiki Barber. They complement each other well. Tierney can, at times, get a little extreme with his takes about teams like the New York Mets.

Tierney has some strong opinions about this year’s Mets club. On Tuesday’s show, he let off some steam regarding the club’s massive payroll and what he believes is a mediocre roster without much power.

He’s not necessarily saying what we all think. Tierney is, however, sharing a fair enough point. A record-breaking payroll with zero position players on the IL shouldn’t have this many concerns with the lineup so early. Stacked against the rest of the league, it’s easy to see where the issues are.

The Mets payroll isn’t a problem, the choice of players is

Two big issues have knocked the Mets down early on this season. One is the injuries to the pitchers, most notably the absence of Justin Verlander who eats up a big part of the payroll.  The other is the use of two platoons in the lineup.

It’s perfectly acceptable to have a catcher platoon. In fact, I kind of like it.

The worse platoon is the one at the DH spot between Daniel Vogelbach and Tommy Pham even if the latter is getting into the field regularly to allow someone else to take a half-day. It’s a strategy that looks like it works on paper. For these Mets, it doesn’t fix the offense’s big weakness from last season.

Power was not a strength of the 2022 Mets. They still managed to score runs aplenty by relying on timely hits and lots of them. One could argue the Mets lineup includes four guys who should hit first or second. Brandon Nimmo, Starling Marte, Jeff McNeil, and Mark Canha are all good number one or two hitters in most lineups. The Mets have four plus the average power of the Pham/Vogelbach platoon, whatever they get from the catchers, and Eduardo Escobar who has been a major disappointment.

We’re only six games into the Mets season, but it already seems like there’s a different vibe with this year’s team. It’s the familiarity with what we saw last season and the lackluster finish with a one-hit performance in the postseason. A near shutout on Friday followed by scoreless blowout losses on Monday and Tuesday will make people like Tierney jump to the worst aspect of the Mets. This is a club that doesn’t hit for power and has a whole lot of guys making good money.

The timing of BT’s comments will now have many fans nodding in agreement. Two losses in a row with a combined score of 19-0 is not a good look in the opening week.